5 favorite holiday cookie recipes

I’m sure you’ve seen the wonderful — and wonderfully easy — bar cookies that Times cooking columnist Ben Mims developed for this year’s holiday season. They are all beautiful and delicious and promise to please your cookie crowd. Still, for some, the ritual of making and decorating individual cookies is an essential component of the holiday season.

If you are all about classic sugar cookies, iced and decorated with your own touch of holiday whimsy, this recipe is for you. It was one of the 10 favorites selected from more than 250 entries in the L.A. Times 2013 Holiday Cookie Bake-Off.

Suzie's Sugar Cookies

Sweet homemade sugar cookies are iced with lemon buttercream and decorated for the holidays in this easy, kid-approved recipe.

Time 1 hour

Yields Makes approximately 2½ dozen (3-inch) cookies

From a time and efficiency standpoint, these “dream” cookies fall somewhere between the convenience of bar cookies and the intricate, multistep process of rolling dough, cutting out individual cookies, baking, icing and decorating them. A cookie scoop makes quick work of portioning the individual cookies, and different-sized sprinkles or dragées allow for simple decorating with an elegant-looking result.

Eggnog Dreams

These light and airy cookies are packed with eggnog flavor and inspired by Swedish "dream" cookies, making them the perfect addition to holiday parties.

Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Yields Makes about 50

Another L.A. Times Holiday Cookie Bake-Off finalist (2017), these house-shaped cookies allow for detailed decorating and omit the engineering feats often required for complex, multilevel, 3-D gingerbread houses. And you can have just one or two bites of gingerbread without bringing down the entire house.

Gingerbread Heart Houses

These holiday gingerbread cookies have just enough spice and warmth, without being too intense for the kids. Perfect for Christmas cookie decorating.

Time 1 hour

Yields Makes about 3 dozen cookies, depending on size

Chewy, spicy and adorned by the crackles that result from baking, these molasses cookies are a simple, elegant holiday treat.

Sugar and Spice Cookie

These molasses-based cookies are full of sugar and spice, reminiscent of grandma's recipes, making them a go-to choice for Christmas and the holidays.

Time 45 minutes

Yields Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies

They look like basic chocolate crinkle cookies dusted with confectioner’s sugar, but one bite — even just a whiff — immediately tells you that this is not quite what it seems. Almond paste, cocoa powder and anise-y licorice combine for a unique flavor with a satisfying chew that will wow chocolate and licorice lovers alike.

Salty Black-and-White Chocolate Crinkles

Sweet almond paste and anise-y licorice meld beautifully in this rich chocolate cookie with powdered sugar crinkles.

Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Yields Makes about 2 1/2 dozen